On Brightside, the eldest Marley finally wrote the song about his father he’d avoided for four decades, and found a better relationship with himself in the process.

The first time Ziggy Marley was on set for the 2024 Bob Marley: One Love documentary about his father, he got a “creative jolt.” So much so, he was inspired to make another album, Brightside, a dense, nine-track spiritual experience that doubles as medicine for the soul. Co-produced by his brother Stephen Marley and recorded in the 432 Hz frequency for meditation, the project includes songs like “Sweet Divine” and “Racism is a Killa,” and they uplift as much as they educate, much like Bob’s music does. As Bob’s eldest son, Ziggy had 12 years with his father and absorbed a lot of life lessons that were passed down to him.

Ziggy, a spitting image of Bob, had to tap into those years for “Many Mourn for Bob,” a song that acknowledges both his father’s imperfections and the seismic impact he had on the world as well as his own grief over losing his father to cancer in 1981. It’s a topic he doesn’t seem to shy away from, and there’s a sense the song was just as cathartic to write and sing as it was for his audience to hear. It was, after all, the first time he’d ever written a song specifically about his father.

“It was emotional,” he tells High Times of writing it. “It was emotional going back into my memories and into some things that I didn’t want to think about for a while. Also, connecting with him on a spiritual level in that way with this song, I would still have a strong connection, so it was emotional, but it was a very positive experience though.

“Even though it’s a melancholy type of story, it was positive because we understand existence goes beyond what we are taught is ‘real’ or what is ‘physical reality.’ There’s another reality we experience through creating songs, and through a song like that, it gives me a stronger connection to him and a way to understand him more.”

In many ways, Ziggy considers the song a collaboration with his father. He explains, “When I finished that song, I was like, ‘This is my father’s song.’ He wants people to understand that everything is not how it seems. ‘I am a man, I am a human being, I’m going to go through some things, too, emotionally and mentally.’ You think Bob is a machine or some kind of mythical figure or whatever, but the more people understand the human side of him, please have respect and pay respect to that and understand what he went through, understand him in that way also.”

Bob Marley died at only 36 and Ziggy, now 57, makes a conscious effort to prioritize his physical and mental health. In fact, prior to hopping on Zoom, he’d just completed a workout.

“I just finished exercising this morning, just before we talked,” he says. “I do swimming, lifting, jogging—I do everything. Everything I feel like doing, I do. For me, it’s very important because the physical activity—and I see it with my kids—is also helping the mental state of mind and the emotional state of mind. Everything is connected and works in balance with each other. If we’re missing a piece of it, then it’s going to affect the other piece of it, which affects the other piece of it and so on and so on.

“The physical exercise is not just about physical health, but the whole health of me as a human being. And it’s not even about exercising. It’s about doing stuff in the garden, getting up for a walk, cleaning up the garage or moving a box here. It’s about not being sedentary.”

Balance has been key to Ziggy’s life these days, especially when recording Brightside. He never forced it and instead, waited until the timing felt right. His first solo effort since 2020’s More Family Time, Brightside arrived in 2024 and went on to win the Grammy for Best Reggae Album.

“I’m getting older,” he explains. “Things come into a different perspective as my consciousness grows, my emotional health grows and my mental state grows. It took that time. I’ve always believed in everything happens in its timely manner. When it’s supposed to happen, it happens. I flow that way.

“Everything fell into place for this record, including building a new studio, having my own space, trying different frequencies in music and being more educated in the science of music, because music is a science as well as an inspiration. I found a balance of science and inspiration that I put into this record.”

Naturally, he benefited from the process, too. Throughout the songwriting and recording process, he was able to tear down some of the barriers he puts in place that typically keep his private life private.

“I felt like I got a better relationship with myself on this record,” he says. “I was very certain of the direction I wanted to go in. I was very in touch with my emotional and mental state of mind. I’m a very introverted person in terms of my personal life, but I was willing to share some of that with people out there.”

Though Ziggy has written songs about cannabis in the past, including 1999’s “One Good Spliff” and 2011’s “Wild and Free” with advocate Woody Harrelson, Brightside is devoid of that. It seems to signal a shift in his perspective on marijuana and how it’s cultivated in the United States.

“I’m not sure about the corporatization of it,” he says. “Let’s compare it to food. Back in the day, people used to farm food and then it became this big industry. Now it’s being farmed in a very unethical and unfriendly way to the earth. They do all type of things to preserve it, make it taste better, make it look better and make it smell better.

“We’ve got to be careful with herb because herb is a natural plant. If we corrupt that, then it is a detriment to what the purpose of the plant is.”

Ziggy Marley

“Same thing with herb, because nature is just like food. The best food of nature is in its natural state—not how man manipulated it to include GMOs and all that. That’s the same concern I have with cannabis.”

Ziggy is much more interested in how the hemp side of the plant could be used to replace paper, serve as fuel and support other environmental purposes.

“The funny thing is that herb is supposed to be used for more than just for smoking,” he says. “We still need to explore the plant more. We cannot stop exploring it. There’s so much more potential to this plant that is still left. To explore that, we need to get into the future.”

Ziggy is currently on the Brightside Tour in support of the album and will embark on the Dreaming the Same Dream Tour with Gov’t Mule in September.

“My dream is really to see a better world,” Ziggy says. “That’s a dream we have. We’re trying to be a part of that through the music, through life and through interactions with other people. We would really like to see the world move on from this state. We’re in a time now where even though it seems to be this way, on the bright side, a lot of things are being revealed to us that were hidden. It’s like, ‘Oh, I see you now.’ That’s the bright side.”

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From LSD-fueled beginnings to a misunderstood HuffPost quote, a High Times–style look at Bob Weir’s nuanced relationship with cannabis, the Grateful Dead, and the culture they helped shape.

With singer, songwriter, guitarist, and concert legend Bob Weir’s passing into the next plane of existence on January 10, the last OG frontman of the legendary Grateful Dead (GD) has faded from the still-prosperous jamband scene he helped create, joining fellow GD singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995, and bassist and singer Phil Lesh, who passed in 2024.

Mere months prior to his death, Weir capped off sixty years of a creative career spent playing psychedelic improvisational music with his final band, Dead & Company, whose farewell concerts were fittingly performed in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on August 1, 2, and 3, 2025.

For the last thirty years, the same length of time the original Grateful Dead existed, Bob Weir did his part to preserve the band’s remarkable catalog through live performances. That body of work stands as a postmodern entry in the Great American Songbook.

In recent weeks, much prose has been dedicated to Bob Weir’s life and legacy. As a High Times–style eulogy, this piece focuses first on Weir’s complicated and often misunderstood relationship with psychoactive substances such as cannabis and LSD, dating back to the 1960s.

Before becoming the Grateful Dead in 1965, the band was originally called The Warlocks. During those early days, Bob Weir was a committed weed smoker, according to GD drummer Bill Kreutzmann. In his Instagram tribute to Weir, Kreutzmann described their early exploits, which included pulling pranks and smoking joints in the alley behind a music store where the young band rehearsed. The pair also tripped together on STP, a powerful and unstable psychedelic common in those hazy early countercultural years.

One of the interview subjects for this article was David Gans, creator of the syndicated radio program The Grateful Dead Hour and a longtime host on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel. Gans is also a touring musician who has performed onstage with members of the Grateful Dead, including Bob Weir, notably during a late-night gig at San Francisco’s Hilton Hotel in December 1997. He also regularly teaches a college course on the Grateful Dead through Stanford University Continuing Studies.

Gans reflected on the complex relationship between the Grateful Dead and psychoactive substances:

“The categorization of the Dead as a ‘drug band’ is both technically true and utterly bullshit. The Grateful Dead were formed in a time of psychedelic urgency, and I firmly believe LSD was an important catalyst in the creation of their music. But to categorize them as a drug band, or as part of a drug culture, is to completely miss the point. We used drugs as tools, not anesthetics. This culture isn’t built around people losing their minds to drugs. It’s built around people using drugs to enhance their spiritual and creative lives.”

The Grateful Dead’s origins were forged while serving as the house band for the legendary 1965–66 Acid Test parties organized across California by author Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. Dennis McNally, the band’s longtime publicist and author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, described how those experiences shaped the band’s ethos.

“What made the Dead unique was that the Acid Tests gave them the option to play or not play as they chose. They were not the show. Everyone tripping on LSD was the show. The band was simply the soundtrack, if they even chose to play. That informed their attitude toward the audience. There was no power imbalance. The audience were partners in a shared quest for magic.”

It is generally accepted that Weir stepped away from recreational drug use earlier than most of his bandmates, with the exception of original frontman Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, whose tastes leaned more toward alcohol than psychedelics.

Weir’s ruggedly individual persona allowed him to de-emphasize drug use even when cannabis and other substances were readily available.

“Bobby wasn’t a big pothead,” Gans said. “When I used to hang out at his house in the early 1980s, there was always really good weed around, but he didn’t smoke much.”

Gans added that while he personally considered Grateful Dead music “pothead music,” Weir never judged others for their use.

“Bobby was always known as the clean-living one. He was a mountain biker, a jogger, a football player. He still used drugs, but it wasn’t the center of his life.”

Gans emphasized that his own recollections reflected personal experience rather than a comprehensive portrait.

“I did cocaine with Weir a number of times, but it wasn’t central to his life in any way. Jerry was more a victim of drugs than the others. Bobby maintained his physical health and never encouraged excessive use.”

The primary controversy surrounding Weir and cannabis stems from a 2014 interview with HuffPost, in which Weir was quoted as saying, “I know guys who are thoroughly addicted to marijuana. If they had to stop now, they’d get the shakes, they’d get the sweats.”

While psychological dependence on cannabis is possible, the physical symptoms Weir described are more commonly associated with alcohol or opioid withdrawal.

Those comments were later cited by Promises Behavioral Health in an online blog post about marijuana addiction, positioning Weir as an authority on cannabis dependence. Dennis McNally expressed surprise at that characterization.

“I never saw Bob opposed to pot,” McNally said. “He was always around dope smokers and never complained. I don’t know what mood he was in that day, but that comment seems out of character.”

McNally added:

“As someone who has observed both pot and heroin use for decades, I wouldn’t compare their effects or withdrawal. That attribution surprised me.”

As a person, both Gans and McNally spoke warmly of Weir’s character and integrity. Gans described him as “a fundamentally decent human being,” noting his work with HeadCount, the Seva Foundation, and his long-standing environmental advocacy.

McNally echoed that sentiment, emphasizing Weir’s sincerity and reliability, as well as his efforts to use his public platform to support environmental causes.

There is a certain symmetry to the Grateful Dead’s history: thirty years with Jerry Garcia, followed by another thirty years in which Weir and his bandmates carried the music forward in various forms. As Gans put it, “Phase One ended with Jerry’s death. Phase Two ended with Bobby’s. Now we’re in Phase Three. Let’s make it joyous.”

Ultimately, regardless of his personal habits, Bob Weir and the Grateful Dead created a cultural space where cannabis and psychedelics could exist openly and creatively, even when society at large resisted that openness.

On a personal note, after first joining High Times as a contributor in 1993 and writing for the magazine for 31 consecutive years, it is a joy to be back contributing to the publication’s revival.

Long live High Times.

Source links:

https://www.promises.com/addiction-blog/bob-weir-grateful-dead-marijuana-addictive/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bob-weir-jerry-garcia_n_5205803

https://relix.com/news/detail/bill-kreutzmann-remembers-bobby-weir-every-day-felt-like-a-great-american-adventure/

minds-eye, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Jamaica’s national team has decided that if it’s going to fight for a spot on the road to the 2026 World Cup, it will do so with a strong sense of identity. According to ESPN, the team unveiled its new Adidas jerseys—both the home and away versions—in collaboration with the Bob Marley Foundation, in a move that brings together soccer, culture, and music.

The launch is part of a broader collection that includes match apparel, lifestyle clothing, and accessories inspired by the musician’s legacy, created with access to the artist’s visual and wardrobe archives.

Jamaica drop their new home and away kits in collaboration with the Bob Marley Foundation pic.twitter.com/X4INxUQzwo

— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 13, 2026

The main design draws on the classic yellow of the Jamaican flag and adds details that directly reference reggae’s visual universe: red, green, and black stripes, textures reminiscent of knitted garments and woven pieces, and nods to the ’70s aesthetic associated with Marley. In addition, the jersey also features  direct references to the musician’s style, integrating cultural elements into the athletic design.

The alternate jersey, meanwhile, features a black base with graphics inspired by sound waves, records, and the island’s musical culture, reinforcing the link between soccer and Jamaica’s sonic heritage.

The idea is clear: for the jersey to represent not just a team, but an entire culture, incorporating subtle nods to the musician’s visual archives and global influence.

“El fútbol es libertad”

Adidas presentó la nueva camiseta de Jamaica en homenaje a Bob Marley. Fue realizada junto a la fundación del artista y la selección la usará en el repechaje para el Mundial 2026.https://t.co/UgSv4IW2UV pic.twitter.com/pvQ6UJ1qTR

— Corta (@somoscorta) February 13, 2026

Both kits include references to the Tuff Gong label and the slogan Football is Freedom, developed with the foundation serving as the project’s conceptual centerpiece.

According to the official statement, the creative concept aims to frame soccer as a form of cultural expression and freedom, aligned with Marley’s artistic and social vision.

That said, the launch goes beyond the sporting arena: the collection includes fashion pieces and products inspired by photographs and archival materials from the artist, positioning the project as much a cultural initiative as a soccer one.

The collaboration fits into a growing trend in international soccer, where uniforms are becoming tools for storytelling and the construction of national identity through design.

Besides, the connection between Marley and soccer is not merely symbolic: it’s well documented that the musician was passionate about the sport and played frequently, even during tours, reinforcing the cultural coherence of this tribute.

A Launch Framed by Sporting Stakes

The new kits arrive at a key moment for the Reggae Boyz, who are aiming to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after decades away from the sport’s biggest stage.

Jamaica has only played in one World Cup, in France 1998, giving this new cycle added symbolic weight. Now, the team will have to navigate the qualification rounds and potential playoffs to secure a place in the tournament.

More than just a jersey, the collection positions itself as a bridge between sport, music, and the creative industries, reinforcing the Jamaican national team’s cultural presence on the global stage.

Now the challenge is on the field: the Reggae Boyz still need to get through the playoffs to secure a spot in the World Cup, something they haven’t achieved in over 20 years. But if they do, they already have a kit that promises to stand out as much as their style of play.

Cover photo created with AI.

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